The United States has announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s two oil majors, Rosneft and Lukoil, in an effort to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine.
“I just felt like it was time. We’ve waited a long time,” US President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to discuss peace negotiations.
The announcement came a day after Trump announced that a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin had been postponed indefinitely.
Early Wednesday, Russia unleashed intense bombing on Ukraine that killed at least seven people, including children.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the sanctions, saying they were necessary because of Putin’s “refusal to end this senseless war.”
“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” Bessent said in a statement, adding that his office “will take additional steps if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war.”
Speaking alongside Rutte on Wednesday, Trump said he hoped the sanctions would help force a breakthrough.
He called the sanctions package “tremendous” and added that he hoped they could be removed quickly if Russia agreed to stop the war. He also criticized Putin for not taking the pursuit of peace seriously.
“Every time I talk to Vladimir, I have good conversations. And then they go nowhere. They just go nowhere,” he said.
Rutte also praised the move, saying they were “putting more pressure” on Putin.
“You have to press, and that is just what he did today,” Rutte said.
The move comes a week after the UK imposed a similar sanctions package on Rosneft and Lukoil.
“There is no place for Russian oil on global markets and we will take the necessary steps to destroy the Russian government’s ability to continue this illegal war in Ukraine,” UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in announcing the move.
The two Russian oil companies export 3.1 million barrels of oil per day. Rosneft is responsible for almost half of all Russian oil production, accounting for 6% of global production, according to UK government estimates.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bessent told Fox News that Trump was disappointed by the progress of the talks and accused Putin of not being honest.
“President Putin has not come to the table honestly and directly, as we expected,” Bessent told the network.
Oil and gas are Russia’s biggest exports, and Moscow’s biggest customers include China, India and Türkiye. Trump has also urged these countries to stop purchases of Russian oil in a bid to put economic pressure on the Kremlin.
Trump was said to have been considering sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil before his meeting with Putin in August in Alaska. Earlier this year, the UK and US directly sanctioned major Russian energy companies Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas.
At the White House, Rutte was expected to discuss a 12-point plan formulated by European NATO allies and Kyiv, which calls for the freezing of current front lines, the return of deported children, as well as a prisoner exchange between the two warring countries.
The plan also includes a war recovery fund for Ukraine, as well as security mechanisms and a clear path for Ukraine to join the EU, as well as increased military aid to Kyiv and economic pressure on Moscow.
The proposal to freeze the front
A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to take place this week, but the White House said the two had had a “productive” call and that a meeting was no longer “necessary”.
Trump, for his part, has repeatedly backed proposals to freeze fighting along the current front lines.
“Let it stay as it is,” he said Monday. “I said: Cut and stop the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people.”
Russia, for its part, has rejected the idea. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov stated that “the coherence of Russia’s position does not change,” referring to its desire for Ukrainian troops to leave the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Trump also rejected reports of The Wall Street Journal that the US had approved Ukrainian long-range missile attacks inside Russia, calling them “fake news.”
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky has expressed his desire for the US to supply his forces with long-range Tomahawk missiles and suggested that the threat of their introduction into the theater of operations could bring Russia to the negotiating table.
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